Cover Story
How to Come Up with a Battery that Doesn't Burn
There have been unending reports of accidents caused by the overheating or ignition of lithium ion rechargeable batteries, which are used as the main power source for portable devices. These are the product of intensifying competition over capacity and differences in awareness at the development level between battery and device manufacturers. Now is the time for the two sides to work together.
Paradigm Shift
Successive accidents highlight the need for collaborative battery and device design
Cultivate!
Japan's hazardous batteries-gambling on new materials
Special Interview
Conceiving the inconceivable battery
Leading Trends
PDP Stands at a Crossroad
A fundamental shift is occurring in the large flat-panel television industry. In the 40-inch market, previously the stronghold of plasma display panels (PDP), liquid crystal display (LCD) panels are quickly gaining share and are beginning to take the lead in terms of units shipped. What potential scenarios are now available to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., the leader in the PDP television field?
Leading Trends
A New Explanation for CCD Defects
The charge-coupled device (CCD) defects revealed in 2005 shocked manufacturers of digital cameras. Now a new theory has emerged to explain them. If accepted, it could completely alter how we view iodine-containing UV curing adhesives, the original presumed cause of the defects.
Keyword
Organic Electroluminescence Panel
Tech Tale
An Air Conditioner with a Self-Cleaning Filter (Part 1): "Because There Was Space There in the Case"
Embedded Systems Academy
T Tutorial of Embedded System (Part 4): You Should Consider the Development Environment:
Buyers' Guide
Passive Matrix Organic EL Displays
Passive matrix organic electroluminescent (EL) displays are spreading quickly thanks to falling prices and longer operating lives. In the case of single-color products used for displaying words and simple graphics, prices of some products have been kept to 1-2 times the price of backlit transmissive LCDs, and products with operating lives in excess of 10,000 hours are continually emerging. The displays can now last the entire life of a portable appliance if used in a certain way, such as having the screen switch off after only a short period of time. Besides portable devices, these displays are appearing increasingly in automotive equipment. As time goes on, we should expect to find them in a wide range of devices, replacing LCDs and fluorescent displays.
Guest Paper
Technology Using Molecular Attraction to Join Different Materials Goes into Mass Production
The Oki Group has developed epi-film bonding (EFB), a technology that uses molecular attraction to join dissimilar thin film materials. Many research institutes and manufacturers have pursued research and development of similar technologies, but little progress has been made on practical application. By narrowing down their development efforts to focus on application to printheads for LED printers, the Oki Group achieved mass production before any of its rivals. With the new technology, a thin film LED array is peeled off its GaAs substrate and bonded on to the driver IC chip. This reduces the cost and size of the printhead. Already 3 million chips applying this technology are mass produced each month. There is a high possibility that EFB technology could be applied to a broad range of areas including LEDs and next-generation system in packages (SiPs). The developers provide an overview of the technology and offer their outlook on its future.
NETs
How to Provide Internet Services to a TV (Part 1)
Numbers of Internet users are steadily increasing. However, most still access via their computers, which means the amount of time spent on the Internet is still considerably low compared to the television. In this article we introduce an idea put forward by Yahoo! that could change this situation and explain the technology involved.
NETs
What NTT DoCoMo Thinks about the Evolution of the Mobile Phone (Part 1)
Five years have passed since the commencement of commercial third generation (3G) mobile phone services and debate about the next generation of technology is growing. In this series, NTT DoCoMo, Inc. chief developer tells us how the mobile phone is going to evolve. The first installment explains current 3G services and provides a technical overview of High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA).
Interview
Cognitive Psychologist Donald A. Norman: "The Beauty of a Product Can Overcome Its Shortcomings"
What's New
- 3GSM World Congress: "For the Next 1 Billion Users"
- Nose Diving NAND Flash Prices Cause Major Vendors to Change Strategies
- ROHM Succeeds in Continuous Oscillation of a Blue-Violet Semiconductor Laser Using Nonpolar Side
- As Spin Injection Memory Development Speeds Up, Hitachi Develops a 2MB Prototype
- Hitachi Develops LED Panel Manufacturing Technology Able to Make a Large Impact with Little Investment
- AISIN SEIKI Founds New Company Dedicated to Automobile Software
